Coming to Terms
by PrinRue
Summary: With life picking up as much as it did after the defeat of the Red Death, the Haddocks didn't have much time to think. Much less, to come to terms with what was lost as a result. Hiccup/Stoick bonding and hurt/comfort


**Hello, friends! Tonight we're taking a little break from INLYS, and getting a HTTYD oneshot! **

**Long, kinda ranty A/N ahead...**

**Okay... so there aren't many things that bother me in this franchise. The biggest one is the glossing over of Hiccup and Stoick's relationship. I've now seen RoB and DoB, so I know there's more of it in those series, but it's still very much ignored. Thus, I wrote "Hero" to help fix it for myself. **

**Another thing that bothers me, and literally has since I was old enough to really think about the first movie (I mean, I was 8 when it came out so I probably didn't understand every undertone) is that Hiccup really doesn't seem to be phased by ****_losing a limb._**** I mean, yeah, there's that sigh and shocked face, then him walking with Toothless, but seriously, you'd think he'd be a little more upset. If something even way less serious happened to me when I was 15, it probably would've felt like the end of the world... Yet he just kinda forgets about it. Of course, I understand why, since... children are watching this... BUT STILL! **

**SO WHAT DO FANS DO WHEN THEY AREN'T SATISFIED? THEY WRITE FANFICS OF COURSE!**

**(That was mostly a joking tone but geez it was more that I thought XD)**

* * *

Stoick had a lot to learn in the fathering department.

He'd spent at least three of the last fifteen years used to his son's distant, sarcastic, disobedient behavior. So, now that he was the village hero, why should that change? It only seemed natural that he would keep that personality.

But, again, Stoick had a _lot _to learn in the fathering department.

Every time he asked his son how he was doing, Hiccup would always respond with a "Great! Why wouldn't the Pride of Berk be anything else?" And Stoick would just accept that answer. If he said he was fine, surely he was. No need to ask further.

But anyone who paid close enough attention would see that Hiccup clearly was not doing great. Behind the fake cheer, he was hurt. Of course emotionally, given the event of a whole tribe of people suddenly wanting to get to know you after treating you like a mistake your entire life. But physically, too.

Obviously, considering he still hadn't had the opportunity to really come to terms with losing a literal part of himself.

Yet, his father didn't notice any of it. Maybe that was what hurt the most, beyond an aching leg and newfound fame.

The fact of the matter is Stoick wasn't completely blind either. He did notice something different about Hiccup. He even had a hunch on what it was. But if his hunch was correct, then he _didn't want to_ bring it up. For he too hadn't had the opportunity to come to terms with everything.

(-)

It was late morning. Normally, Hiccup didn't sleep in so late, especially with a hyperactive Night Fury needing his morning fly. But today, Toothless was okay with forgoing his morning fly. His human was hurt and hadn't been sleeping well. It only seemed fair to let him sleep in when he could.

Finally, long after breakfast had passed, Hiccup began to stir. At the sound, Toothless instantly perked up from his stone slab, shuffling over to his friend's bed. Hiccup cracked an eye open, smiling slightly at the familiar sight of his dragon.

"Mornin', bud." The boy reached out his left hand to pat Toothless' head. Then he noticed the light coming through his window. "Well, I guess maybe a little later than morning, huh?." Toothless warbled a sound of indifference. "Did we miss your morning flight? I'm sorry, Toothless."

_"It's okay. You needed sleep."_

The human scratched his friend's head one more time, hearing the gentle tone of the dragon's rumbling. "Well, I guess better late than never." Hiccup started to kick the covers off, only to recoil in pain at the movement. Toothless grumbled questioningly at him, his green eyes filled with concern. "Heh, I'm okay, buddy," Hiccup said, though the look on his face and the sound of his voice clearly said otherwise. "Just a little… sore, is all." He gently pushed the blanket aside, sliding to the edge of the bed before tenderly setting his feet- real, then fake- on the ground.

Toothless cocked his head at Hiccup. _"Why do you sleep with your replacement on? I don't do that."_ Just to make sure his human understood, the dragon moved his tail to show that his fake fin wasn't there, then poked Hiccup's leg with his nose.

"I know, Toothless, I'm getting your saddle." The boy answered.

Toothless growled a little at him. _"That's not what I meant!"_

"You… don't want your saddle?"

Toothless showed his tail and poked Hiccup again, then gestured to both the bed and his stone slab. _"Why do you sleep with your replacement on?" _

"Is this about sleep?"

A nod.

"And your tail?"

Another nod.

"Is something wrong with it? Are you hurt? Are you having trouble sleeping?"

_NO!_

"Then… what?"

Toothless nudged his friend's leg one more time and then the bed.

"Is… it about how _I _sleep?"

A forceful nod.

"Okay… what about it?"

Toothless showed Hiccup his tail again, then the bed. Finally, it clicked.

"You're wondering why I sleep with my leg on?"

Another forceful nod.

"Well, I…" Hiccup trailed off. The truth was, he didn't really know why. For a little while he went to bed without it, but one day he just decided otherwise. That _was_ strange, he supposed.

But Toothless knew why. He'd figured it out the moment his friend had been unable to answer. How did he know? Because it had happened to _him_ too.

For those first few days in the Cove, before Hiccup came with the peace offering fish, Toothless had tried nonstop to get out. Obviously, he knew half of his tail was missing. When he'd been falling after being hit by those binding rocks, he'd tried to slow his fall by grappling a tree branch with his tail. The attempt only ended up hurting him, and he'd had to cauterize his injury with his own fire. Still, despite knowing all this, he continued to try to escape. Because he didn't want to believe he was flightless.

Because he hadn't come to terms with reality yet.

And now his human was going through the same thing.

With this sudden understanding, Toothless did the only thing he knew would help. He grabbed his friend's artificial leg, pulling it off in one quick motion, and then ran.

(-)

Stoick was having a heck of a day. Of course, chiefing was always a heavy task, but it never helped when Mildew was involved. And ever since the dragons moved in, the crazy man had been even more of a nuisance.

That was when Stoick noticed another figure approaching, and fast. He turned in time to see a black monster rushing at him, its teeth bared. Stoick assumed his fighting stance, before he realized be recognized the monster. It was his son's Night Fury.

But the dragon looked odd. For one, Hiccup wasn't on him. Neither was his saddle and prosthetic tailfin. And he also appeared to have something in his mouth, hence why his teeth were bared.

Toothless skidded to a stop a mere foot before barreling into the chief, breathing hard from his sprint.

"Toothless? What're yeh doin' here? Where's Hiccup?" The dragon responded by shoving the thing in his teeth at Stoick. "And why in Thor's name do yeh have my son's leg in yer mouth?"

Toothless gave the man a look of concern, glancing at the item in his grip then back at Stoick.

"Did somethin' happen to him? Is he alright?"

Toothless responded with what could only be described as a dragon shrug, then he gestured to his back.

Stoick looked back toward Mildew's house, then hopped onto Toothless. Said dragon promptly took off running again, garnering a satisfying yelp from his passenger. If Night Furies were this fast on the ground, Stoick had no clue how his son could handle one in the air.

The pair made it back to the Haddock house in minutes, and Stoick nearly leapt off the dragon to get inside.

"Hiccup! Where are yeh?" The father's eyes flicked frantically around, before coming to rest on their target. The boy was halfway down the steps, slowly sliding on them one stair at a time.

"Dad?" Hiccup said, confused by the man's apparent worry. "What're you doing home?"

"Ask that dragon of yours," Stoick answered. "He's the one who came bolting over teh me with yer leg in his mouth."

"Toothless! I told you, I'm fine!" Hiccup scolded the Night Fury, finally making it to the last stair. "Bad dragon!" The boy shakily got to his foot, holding the wall with one hand and reaching for his dragon with the other. "Now give me that!" Toothless growled again and backed away, out of his reach. "What, is this about the sleeping issue?"

"Sleepin' issue?" Stoick asked.

"Oh-uh- it's- you see…" Hiccup stammered.

"What's been goin' on, son? Tell me… please."

Hiccup opened his mouth to say something, then sighed. "Well… you see," he began. Toothless grinned, happy his human was finally going to talk about it. "Toothless is mad at me for some reason because of the way I sleep." The grin dropped, replaced by another growl.

_"You know that's not it. Now tell him what's really bothering you!" _

Hiccup got the hint, looking back down. "And… I think I know why…"

_Good, good, continue._

"You see, I've… been having a bit of a hard time lately." Despite the notion that Vikings don't cry, Hiccup felt his eyes well up with tears.

Stoick saw this, and felt his own heart immediately ache. "Why don't we take a seat, son." The boy nodded slightly, and Stoick helped him to their sitting area. "Go on."

"Like I said, I've been having a hard time lately, and…" Hiccup swallowed the lump in his throat to no avail. "I think… it's only now starting to sink in."

"What is?" Stoick asked, though he had a feeling he already knew. It was the same thing that he himself had been struggling with.

"That I really am never going to get my leg back. That this is my life now." Hiccup shifted his foot on the floor, finally letting himself look. And trying to ignore the odd feeling he got seeing the one sided movement. "Sometimes, I feel like it's still there. Like if I try hard enough, I could move some nonexistent thing. And sometimes, like that nonexistent thing can still feel pain. A lot."

Stoick focused his gaze on the floorboards at his own feet. The whole situation was just… wrong. Hiccup was a hero, yes, but he didn't deserve to have to pay such a high price. He was only fifteen, for Thor's sake. No fifteen year old should have to come to terms with something as serious as losing a limb. But here they were. All Stoick could do was try to help him through it.

"You know what's stupid, Dad?" Hiccup continued. "Toothless asked me this morning why I sleep with my leg on. And I think it's because some idiotic part of me believed that if I could get up in the morning and jump out of bed like before, then nothing was really different." He shook his head. "But all that got me was pain and sleepless nights."

Stoick sighed, taking in his son's words. If Hiccup was sharing, then maybe he should too. "Yeh know, Hiccup, when you were… asleep after the battle, and I was goin' through yer things upstairs… I just about lost it."

"Wait, _you_ almost lost it? You_, Stoick the Vast, _almost broke down?"

Stoick made a sound of affirmation. "And it was because of yer _shoes_, of all things. Realizing yeh'd never get to wear both again." After a moment, the man continued. "Once yeh were awake and up again, I, eh, almost asked yeh to try 'em on. So maybe I could hear the sound again." Stoick shifted his gaze to meet his son's, who was still looking at the ground ahead of him. "I feel awful, Hiccup. Every time I hear yeh get up in the mornin' and know that uneven sound is because of me."

"It's funny. That's how I always felt hearing the clicking of Toothless' tail shifts. Because I knew it was my fault."

"You don't anymore?"

"Of course I do. And in the end I guess it's only fair that we both lost something. We match, now. Plus, he forgave me… I just wish I could forgive _myself_."

"I don't know if I ever can… not with such a… permanent reminder."

"Then I guess we're _both_ pretty bad at moving on, huh?" Hiccup finally looked up to meet his father's eyes.

"Son, I don't know if this somethin' yeh just _move on_ from."

"Maybe not, but I want to be able to at least not think about it all the time. I know that I can't ever really _forget _about it but…"

"But we can work together teh get through it all." Stoick finished. He leaned closer, taking his son's small hands in his, and giving him a reassuring smile. After a moment, the smile was returned.

"Yeah. We can."

Suddenly, another shape intercepted Hiccup's vision, and he felt a big, slobbery tongue all over his face. "Toothless! Were you listening this whole time?" The dragon pulled back far enough for Hiccup to see his wide, gummy grin. "Bad dragon! Didn't anyone teach you about eavesdropping?"

_"Nope!" _Toothless gave his human one more big lick before reaching down and picking something up… only to drop a slobber covered leg in Hiccup's lap.

"Oh, well that's… very kind of you." He picked up the item with two fingers. "I guess I won't be using this today…" All the while Toothless was still smiling.

Stoick laughed heartily at the sight. For the first time, he didn't feel guilty seeing his son's prosthetic leg. He just felt… okay with it. It didn't feel normal, or ordinary, and it probably never would. But it didn't have to. He knew that he could help Hiccup through it all. He was okay with this.

And for the first time, Hiccup was too.

* * *

**Yeah, so I was actually quite unsure if I was even going to post this... it's not my usual subject matter. But again, that just really bothered me about the movie. **

**Also, a bit of a headcanon about Toothless there. I don't think it was the bola that hurt his tail; it was the fall. I also don't think it was a "clean break" so to speak, and the poor dragon had to finish the job himself...**

**I tried for a bit of humor with Toothless' role, and him stealing the leg just really felt like something he would do haha. **

**So, anyway... I hope you all enjoyed this! And that maybe the rant at the beginning was somewhat entertaining lol**


End file.
